Call for Papers

First International Conference of Hellenic Studies

on the topic

Hellenic Political Philosophy and Contemporary Europe

(Herceg Novi, Montenegro, 29 September – 04 October 2019)

The Conference is organized under the auspices of the Ministry of Science of Montenegro and will be held in Herceg Novi, an ancient town on the coast of the Adriatic Sea, and an intersecting point of different cultures during ancient and medieval times.

As one of the institutions participating in the COST (European Cooperation in Science and Technology) Action entitled Reappraising Intellectual Debates on Civic Rights and Democracy in Europe, the Center for Hellenic Studies organized a series of lectures, presentations and round tables, participated by eminent experts in philosophy, history, political theory, theology, classics, and other disciplines. As the final phase of the project, the Center deemed opportune to initiate a debate on the achievements, values and guide marks that Hellenic political philosophy can have for contemporary Europe, in which the apprehension of the political is chiefly reduced to the interests of powers and corporations, being thus exclusively linked to the technique of conquering and maintaining dominance.

Ancient Hellenic conception, that gave birth to notions like freedom, democracy, parrhesia, publicity and other, reminds us that ancient Greeks understood politics not only as a fundamental designation of human beings – as, according to Aristotle, anyone who does not partake of society is either a beast or a god – but also as inseparably linked to ethics.

If politics in the modern world, according to Napoleon’s famous dictum, became a sort of fatalité moderne, or what the ancient Greeks called moira, then dealing with questions and issues posited by the conference’s topic does not represent a subject of a mere intellectual exhibition and strictly academic discussion, but a crucial question of human destiny and human being’s position in the contemporary world.

The Conference is of an interdisciplinary character, and aims at addressing different social and political issues from perspectives of history, philosophy, economics, theology, history of ideas, anthropology, political theory and other disciplines. Such conception of the scholarly exchange does not fulfill only the purpose of an historical investigation, but will provide a systematic treatment of the topic, thus clarifying existing ideas and advancing new ones. The themes to be covered include, but are not limited to, the following:

The concept of the polis in antiquity and modernity

Freedom and democracy

Politics and economy

Democracy, liberalism, totalitarianism

The philosophy of the polis: Citizen, polis and cultural ideals

Autonomy and responsibility in politics

The philosophy of the cosmopolis

The polis and happiness

Ethics and politics

The “political” before and after Machiavelli: Similarities and differences

Intellectuals and social change: The free intellectual and “secular priesthood”

Politics and the media

Globalization, unification, otherness

European Union: Foundation, possibilities, perspectives

Law and justice

International law: Sovereignty and territorial integrity

The politics of difference and the problem of interventionism

Cultural politics

The official language of the Conference is English. There are five categories of participation:

Keynote lectures by invited speakers (30min)

Presentations of original papers (20min)

Presentations of short communications (15min)

Passive participation (without paper)

Participation as accompanying persons

All participants (except invited speakers) are required to register through the registration form and pay their registration fees. Participants wishing to present a paper should include an abstract (max 200 words) in their registration form. In case of technical issues, participation applications (including title, name, address, affiliation) and abstracts can be sent via email to conference@ichs.me. All participants will be notified by e-mail regarding the status of their submission.

The deadline for submission of abstracts is 1st March 2019. Registration fees and payment instructions can be found here.

The Organizing Committee reserves the right to accept or reject papers that do not comply with the academic standards of the Conference. Selected full papers will be published in the proceedings after the Conference.